{Article} The 3 Perks of Outsourcing a Grant Writer

It never fails that when a new program is proposed or a financial gap is looming a Board Member will enthusiastically suggest, “Just get a grant!”

We’ve all heard these 4 little words and we silently think to ourselves, “If it was only that easy.”

If it was only that easy, then there would be an unending funding stream that allowed you to reach all your outcomes, hire all the staff you need for programming, administration, and reporting, and there would be no “need” in your community because everything would be planned and executed with the utmost efficiency.

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Not at all.

Along with trying to write a grant for a need within your community, you are already wearing too many hats, working the maximum number of hours, and it’s creeping into your personal life. Even if you decide to take the extra time to write a grant proposal, are you sure you are doing enough research about which grant is a good fit (and what your competition may be), crossing all your proverbial “t’s”, and dotting those strategic “i’s”?

Turning to experienced grant writers could save you a lot of headache (and heartache). Here is why:

#1 Experts have already failed and succeeded

Pursuing grants is a marathon, not a sprint. Most often it takes more than one attempt to get awarded a grant. Feedback received from a grant denial is extremely valuable and imperative to your success of getting a grant awarded with a specific funder, or any funder for that matter.

There is often information provided in your reviewer notes that was not included in the request for proposal and you wouldn’t be privy to that information unless you had been denied the grant. Grant Writing consultants have already gone through this process and are one step ahead of the competition because they have been awarded several grants. They have done the learning for you!

#2 You can focus on a program design you will enjoy implementing

Grant writing requires a lot of attention to detail. An applicant must make sure that all forms, Memoranda of Understanding, and Letters of Support, just to name a few, are all executed, signed, and collected for submission within the grant. This task is on top of developing and dictating all the required narrative elements.

When you hire a Grant Writer, you don’t have to focus as much on the nuances of technicalities; instead, you can focus on the questions that really matter:

How is this funding going to help my community?

Are we targeting everyone that the program can sustain?

Can I execute these tasks effectively?

Taking the time to answer these questions allows you to provide the Grant Writer with the important information that is going to make your proposal the most competitive, without worrying about the minutiae.

#3 You can go after more than one grant at a time

It’s common that multiple funding opportunities are released at the same time, making it impossible for one person to write and submit them all. More so, each opportunity requires its own set of criteria. It is not a one-off process where you can send the same material to multiple places. That would be way too easy!

Outsourcing your grant writing addresses this problem by not just gaining one writer, but gaining multiple writers who work on multiple projects at the same time. You don’t ever want to pass up a suitable grant opportunity, because there is no guarantee they will exist in the next funding year. You also don’t ever have to worry about any one person being stretched too thin because they are only working on the projects to which they have been assigned.

Professional Grant Writers know their limits and will only sign themselves up for the number of grants in which they can effectively complete at a competitive level.

It’s OK to say, “We are all doing our share and then some. We need help!” Resource Associates is here to help you do exactly what that Board Member suggested: Get that grant!

Let Resource Associates take grant writing off your team’s plate

For the past two decades Resource Associates has worked with 501(c)(3) agencies, schools, tribes, governmental agencies, and businesses to win hundreds of millions of dollars in grant funding for their organizations. Grant writing and capacity building are our passion. Our staff includes some of the most successful grant writers in the world. When you work with Resource Associates, you benefit from the knowledge and expertise of former executive directors, educators, fire/police and other servicemen and women, scientists, and medical specialists — each with decades of experience and proven track records of winning federal, state, and foundation grants. Contact us if you’d like to speak about how our experienced team can help your organization fulfill its mission. Consultations are always free.